Difference between revisions of "Argus"

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Despite the success of the Argus A, company stockholders were unhappy with Verschoor's management, and ousted him from the company in 1938. But that year also saw the release of the [[Argus C]] and [[Argus C2]], the first of the "bricks"—enormous successes which stayed in production for nearly three more decades.
 
Despite the success of the Argus A, company stockholders were unhappy with Verschoor's management, and ousted him from the company in 1938. But that year also saw the release of the [[Argus C]] and [[Argus C2]], the first of the "bricks"—enormous successes which stayed in production for nearly three more decades.
  
By the 1950s, Argus had became a significant force in Ann Arbor's economy. Several buildings from its heyday still stand. Two are now used by the University of Michigan; but the main original factory is now remodeled as office space, and owned by "C3 Partners."  This building  includes a public area in an upstairs lobby, where a permanent exhibition of Argus cameras is shown, The Argus Museum<ref>[http://gfoxphoto.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post.html "Argus Camera Museum, Ann Arbor "] at [http://gfoxphoto.blogspot.com/ Vintage Cameras | Gregory Fox Photography]</ref>.  
+
By the 1950s, Argus had become a significant force in Ann Arbor's economy. Several buildings from its heyday still stand. Two are now used by the University of Michigan; but the main original factory is now remodeled as office space, and owned by "C3 Partners."  This building  includes a public area in an upstairs lobby, where a permanent exhibition of Argus cameras is shown, The Argus Museum<ref>[http://gfoxphoto.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post.html "Argus Camera Museum, Ann Arbor "] at [http://gfoxphoto.blogspot.com/ Vintage Cameras | Gregory Fox Photography]</ref>.  
  
 
Argus's factory was located in a residential neighborhood west of downtown Ann Arbor, which had traditionally been an enclave of German immigrants—particularly from Swabia in southern Germany<ref>[http://aaobserver.aadl.org/aaobserver/15573 "The Story of the Schwaben Halle"], from the ''Ann Arbor Observer'' column "Then And Now," Dec. 2002, archived at [http://aaobserver.aadl.org/node/18520 Ann Arbor District Library]. The Swabian region of Germany was home to [[Dacora|Dacora Kamerawerk]], founded in Reutlingen south of Stuttgart.</ref>
 
Argus's factory was located in a residential neighborhood west of downtown Ann Arbor, which had traditionally been an enclave of German immigrants—particularly from Swabia in southern Germany<ref>[http://aaobserver.aadl.org/aaobserver/15573 "The Story of the Schwaben Halle"], from the ''Ann Arbor Observer'' column "Then And Now," Dec. 2002, archived at [http://aaobserver.aadl.org/node/18520 Ann Arbor District Library]. The Swabian region of Germany was home to [[Dacora|Dacora Kamerawerk]], founded in Reutlingen south of Stuttgart.</ref>
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| image=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2708/4371505879_9f49e3f194.jpg
 
| image=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2708/4371505879_9f49e3f194.jpg
 
| image_align=left
 
| image_align=left
| image_text=<small>image 1940's, by Charles Dunlap</small>
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| image_text=<small>image 1940's, <br/>by {{image author|vincentnip}}</small> {{with permission}}
 
}}{{br}}
 
}}{{br}}
  
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* Argus C3 Standard
 
* Argus C3 Standard
 
* [[Argus C 33]]
 
* [[Argus C 33]]
 +
* [[Argus C4]]
 +
* [[Argus C44]]
 +
* [[Argus C44R]]
 +
* [[Argus C4 Geiss]]-modified for interchangeable lenses
 +
* [[Argus C4M Electro]]
 +
*  Argus C4R
 +
  
 
=== Autronic Series ===
 
=== Autronic Series ===
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* [[Argus A-Four]]
 
* [[Argus A-Four]]
 
* [[Argus C-twenty]]
 
* [[Argus C-twenty]]
* [[Argus C4]]
+
* Argus Model K
* [[Argus C44]]
 
* [[Argus C44R]]
 
* [[Argus C4 Geiss]]-modified for interchangeable lenses
 
* [[Argus C4M Electro]]
 
*  Argus C4R
 
 
* [[Argus Model M]]
 
* [[Argus Model M]]
 
* [[Argus 127]] ([[Whitehouse Products]])
 
* [[Argus 127]] ([[Whitehouse Products]])
 +
* Argus/Cosina 35 ([[Cosina]])
 +
* Argus CR-1 ([[Chinon]])
 
* [[Chinon CX|Argus CR-2]] ([[Chinon]])
 
* [[Chinon CX|Argus CR-2]] ([[Chinon]])
 
* [[Argus/Cosina STL 1000]] ([[Cosina]])
 
* [[Argus/Cosina STL 1000]] ([[Cosina]])
 +
* [[Argus Carefree]]
 +
* [[Argus 164k Carefree]]
 
* [[Argus Lady Carefree]] and [[Argus Flash Sensor 235x]] ([[Sedic]])
 
* [[Argus Lady Carefree]] and [[Argus Flash Sensor 235x]] ([[Sedic]])
 
* [[Argus V-100]] (German OEM)
 
* [[Argus V-100]] (German OEM)
 +
* [[Argus 260 Automatic]] (126 cartridge)
 
* Argus Instant Load 270 (126 cartridge)
 
* Argus Instant Load 270 (126 cartridge)
 +
* [[Balda F.126|Argus instant Load 364 (126 cartridge)]]
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
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=== Links ===
 
=== Links ===
 
* [http://www.arguscg.org/ The Argus Collectors Group]
 
* [http://www.arguscg.org/ The Argus Collectors Group]
 +
* [http://www.aadl.org/ Ann Arbor District Library]
 +
** [http://oldnews.aadl.org/node/204921 Old News: The Story of Argus Cameras]
 +
** [http://oldnews.aadl.org/argus_camera_articles News Articles] (from the local paper Ann Arbor News)
 +
** [http://www.aadl.org/argus_eyes Argus Eyes] (employee newsletter)
 +
** [http://www.aadl.org/argus_camera_publications Instruction manuals]
 +
** [http://www.aadl.org/argus_camera_photos Photos of Argus products and the Argus Museum]
 +
** [http://www.aadl.org/argus_eyes_for_victory Video: Eyes for Victory] (c. 1945)
 +
** [http://www.aadl.org/argus_fine_cameras Video: Fine Cameras and how they are made] (c. 1953)
 +
** [http://www.aadl.org/node/218739 Audio interview: Cheryl Chedister], Argus Museum Curator
 +
** [http://www.aadl.org/node/218815 Audio interview: Milt Campbell, Art Dersham, and Elwyn Dersham], former Argus employees
 +
** [http://www.aadl.org/node/218814 Audio interview: Art Parker] former Argus employee
 +
* [http://argusinfo.net/ Argus Camera Information Reference Site] by Phillip G. Sterritt
 +
** [http://argusinfo.net/DatingGuide/DatingYourArgus.htm When was my Argus camera made?]
 +
** [http://argusinfo.net/Reference/ReferenceGuide.htm Argus still camera and slide projector reference guides (1961)]
 +
* [http://sites.google.com/site/fromthefocalplanetoinfinity/patents Argus patents]
 
* [http://blog.dcview.com/article.php?a=AD5TMQxuAjI%253D Argus C: the first best-selling 135 film camera (1938)], at [http://blog.dcview.com/ckshene DCView] (in Chinese, [http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=es&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.dcview.com%2Farticle.php%3Fa%3DAD5TMQxuAjI%25253D English translation])
 
* [http://blog.dcview.com/article.php?a=AD5TMQxuAjI%253D Argus C: the first best-selling 135 film camera (1938)], at [http://blog.dcview.com/ckshene DCView] (in Chinese, [http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=es&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.dcview.com%2Farticle.php%3Fa%3DAD5TMQxuAjI%25253D English translation])
 
* [http://sites.google.com/site/fromthefocalplanetoinfinity/argusc3/Gambino-ArgusMuseum.pdf The Argus Museum: Ann Arbor's Hidden Treasure] (PDF), by Henry Gambino, at [http://sites.google.com/site/fromthefocalplanetoinfinity/argusc3/ From the infinity to the focal plane]
 
* [http://sites.google.com/site/fromthefocalplanetoinfinity/argusc3/Gambino-ArgusMuseum.pdf The Argus Museum: Ann Arbor's Hidden Treasure] (PDF), by Henry Gambino, at [http://sites.google.com/site/fromthefocalplanetoinfinity/argusc3/ From the infinity to the focal plane]
* [http://photo.even.free.fr/col_app_argus.php Argus page] at [http://photo.even.free.fr/ Collection G. Even's site]
+
* [http://www.collectiongeven.com/piwigo/index.php?/category/758 Argus page] at [http://www.collectiongeven.com/piwigo/ Collection G. Even's site] (in French)
* [http://www.collection-appareils.fr/general/html/listeA_imagettes.php#Argus Various Argus Camera at Sylvain Halgand's collection]
+
* [http://www.collection-appareils.fr/general/html/listeA_imagettes.php#Argus Various Argus Camera at Sylvain Halgand's collection] (in French)
 
* [http://www.arguscamera.com/history/index.htm Argus Camera History]on the [http://www.arguscamera.com/ Argus Company site]
 
* [http://www.arguscamera.com/history/index.htm Argus Camera History]on the [http://www.arguscamera.com/ Argus Company site]
 
* [http://www.flickr.com/groups/arguscg/ Argus Camera Photographers Group] and [http://www.flickr.com/groups/arguscg/pool/ Pool] on Flickr
 
* [http://www.flickr.com/groups/arguscg/ Argus Camera Photographers Group] and [http://www.flickr.com/groups/arguscg/pool/ Pool] on Flickr
* [http://photo.net/users/philster/Argus/DatingYourArgus.htm When was my Argus camera made?], by Phillip G. Sterritt, at [http://photo.net/ Photo.net]
 
* [http://photo.net/users/philster/Argus/ReferenceGuide.htm Argus still camera and slide projector reference guides], by Phillip G. Sterritt, at [http://photo.net/ Photo.net]
 
  
 
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=== Books ===
 
=== Books ===
 
* DESCHIN, Jacob. ''Picture making with the Argus C3, C4, A4: A working manual.'' Camera Craft Pub. Co., San Francisco, 1954. Library of Congress 54012589.
 
* DESCHIN, Jacob. ''Picture making with the Argus C3, C4, A4: A working manual.'' Camera Craft Pub. Co., San Francisco, 1954. Library of Congress 54012589.
* GAMBINO, Henry J. ''Argomania: A look at Argus cameras and the company that made them.'' Aeone Communications, Doylestown (Pennsylvania), 2005. ISBN 0-9770507-0-X.
+
* GAMBINO, Henry J. ''Argomania: A look at Argus cameras and the company that made them.'' Aeone Communications, Doylestown (Pennsylvania), 2005. <nowiki>ISBN</nowiki> 0-9770507-0-X.
* KUZYK, Hrad. ''35mm for the proletariat: A modern user's guide to the Argus A/A2 camera.'' Hrad Kuzyk, 2007. ISBN 0615144888.
+
* KUZYK, Hrad. ''35mm for the proletariat: A modern user's guide to the Argus A/A2 camera.'' Hrad Kuzyk, 2007. <nowiki>ISBN</nowiki> 0615144888.
* LAHUE, Kalton C. and BAILEY, Joseph A. ''Collecting vintage cameras, vol. 1: The American 35mm.'' American Photographic Book Publishing Company, New York, 1972. ISBN 081740547X.
+
* LAHUE, Kalton C. and BAILEY, Joseph A. ''Collecting vintage cameras, vol. 1: The American 35mm.'' American Photographic Book Publishing Company, New York, 1972. <nowiki>ISBN</nowiki> 081740547X.
* LAHUE, Kalton C. and BAILEY, Joseph. ''Glass, brass, & chrome.'' University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma, 1972. ISBN 0-8061-0968-8. 2002: ISBN 0-8061-3434-8.
+
* LAHUE, Kalton C. and BAILEY, Joseph. ''Glass, brass, & chrome.'' University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma, 1972. <nowiki>ISBN</nowiki> 0-8061-0968-8. 2002: <nowiki>ISBN</nowiki> 0-8061-3434-8.
 
* MURPHY, Burt. ''Argus 35mm photography.'' Verlan Books, New York, 1959. Library of Congress 59015881.
 
* MURPHY, Burt. ''Argus 35mm photography.'' Verlan Books, New York, 1959. Library of Congress 59015881.
 
* TYDINGS, Kenneth. ''The Argus 35mm guide and reference book.'' Greenburg, New York, 1952. Library of Congress 52008125.
 
* TYDINGS, Kenneth. ''The Argus 35mm guide and reference book.'' Greenburg, New York, 1952. Library of Congress 52008125.

Revision as of 11:52, 10 June 2018

Argus Inc. was a camera maker based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. The company sold nearly three million of its best-known model, the Argus C3—fondly (and accurately) known as "the brick."


Buildings

History

Before 1939, Argus was International Research Corporation, having evolved from International Radio Corporation, an innovative maker of bakelite radio sets. President Charles Verschoor saw a business opportunity to branch out into a bakelite 35mm camera as well. The first Argus, the Argus A, resulted from a patent that the company received in 1936, and its surprisingly affordable cost made it a great success. Thus it was this American company that brought 35mm film in Kodak's 135 cassette format to a mass market that could not afford costly Leica, Zeiss Contax or German Kodak Retina cameras.

Despite the success of the Argus A, company stockholders were unhappy with Verschoor's management, and ousted him from the company in 1938. But that year also saw the release of the Argus C and Argus C2, the first of the "bricks"—enormous successes which stayed in production for nearly three more decades.

By the 1950s, Argus had become a significant force in Ann Arbor's economy. Several buildings from its heyday still stand. Two are now used by the University of Michigan; but the main original factory is now remodeled as office space, and owned by "C3 Partners." This building includes a public area in an upstairs lobby, where a permanent exhibition of Argus cameras is shown, The Argus Museum[1].

Argus's factory was located in a residential neighborhood west of downtown Ann Arbor, which had traditionally been an enclave of German immigrants—particularly from Swabia in southern Germany[2]

In 1957 Argus was purchased by Sylvania Electric Products Co., who believed there would be a synergy with that firm's flashbulb sales. A new South Carolina factory was opened to handle strong slide projector sales. However by the late 1950s, Argus was struggling to compete against new Japanese camera imports, which offered better features at a lower price point. In 1959 Sylvania was acquired by GTE; and in 1962 Argus's new corporate owners essentially dumped the company onto Mansfield Industries—a Chicago photographic distributor and a much smaller company.

In the 1960s, most Argus products became foreign imports (several from Mamiya), rebranded with the Argus name. While optics contracts kept some Ann Arbor workers busy, by 1963 camera production had stopped there (a trickle of camera models were made in South Carolina through the mid-1960s). Starting in 1967 Argus's corporate ownership turned over several more times, with the brand popping up in various guises. But the era of US-designed and -manufactured cameras had ended.


List of Argus Cameras

A-series

A-series Links

C-series


Autronic Series

TLR

Other

Notes

  1. "Argus Camera Museum, Ann Arbor " at Vintage Cameras | Gregory Fox Photography
  2. "The Story of the Schwaben Halle", from the Ann Arbor Observer column "Then And Now," Dec. 2002, archived at Ann Arbor District Library. The Swabian region of Germany was home to Dacora Kamerawerk, founded in Reutlingen south of Stuttgart.

Sources

Links


Manuals

Books

  • DESCHIN, Jacob. Picture making with the Argus C3, C4, A4: A working manual. Camera Craft Pub. Co., San Francisco, 1954. Library of Congress 54012589.
  • GAMBINO, Henry J. Argomania: A look at Argus cameras and the company that made them. Aeone Communications, Doylestown (Pennsylvania), 2005. ISBN 0-9770507-0-X.
  • KUZYK, Hrad. 35mm for the proletariat: A modern user's guide to the Argus A/A2 camera. Hrad Kuzyk, 2007. ISBN 0615144888.
  • LAHUE, Kalton C. and BAILEY, Joseph A. Collecting vintage cameras, vol. 1: The American 35mm. American Photographic Book Publishing Company, New York, 1972. ISBN 081740547X.
  • LAHUE, Kalton C. and BAILEY, Joseph. Glass, brass, & chrome. University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma, 1972. ISBN 0-8061-0968-8. 2002: ISBN 0-8061-3434-8.
  • MURPHY, Burt. Argus 35mm photography. Verlan Books, New York, 1959. Library of Congress 59015881.
  • TYDINGS, Kenneth. The Argus 35mm guide and reference book. Greenburg, New York, 1952. Library of Congress 52008125.